One of the best things about being a librarian is that I get to go to BookExpo, held again this year at the Javits Center in NYC. For those of you who have never been lucky enough to attend, picture the following: an exhibit hall with hundreds of thousands of square feet devoted to all aspects of the book industry, filled with thousands of book lovers milling around and conversing with total strangers about their particular reading passions. Aside from the fact that a day at BookExpo is like getting an extended time release dose of pure adrenaline, I go to Book Expo for two basic reasons:
1. Publishers give out, absolutely free, hundreds of ARCS, soft cover advance reader copies of books that are going to be published during the next several months. Nothing is quite so sweet as scoring an ARC from an author you love since it means that you will then have the opportunity to read his or her most recent work months ahead of almost everybody else. In addition to the ARCs, some publishers actually give away hardcover copies of recently published books. By the end of my day at BookExpo, I walked away with 44 books that would have cost me roughly $800 had I been required to purchase them at full price. With one exception, all of these books will eventually find their way into my library's collection.
2. Authors are in abundance at BookExpo, appearing either at their publisher's booth or at separate tables, for the purpose of signing the ARCs of their latest work and, if they're nice, chatting for a moment or two with each person on line. Scoring the signature - along with a couple of moments of chit chat - from an author you love is pretty freakin' awesome.
At the Harlequin booth I scored the following thriller/suspense ARCs, along with the author's signature and a brief opportunity to chat:
Claim of Innocence, by Laura Caldwell
Before Cain Strikes. by Joshua Corin
The Girl Who Disappeared Twice, by Andrea Kane
In Desperation, by Rick Mofina
The Whisper, by Carla Neggers
Inside, by Brenda Novak
I also paid a visit to the booth sponsored by The Mystery Writers of America where I was able to get the following signed ARCs or books:
Dark Road to Darjeeling, by Deanna Raybourn
The Orchid Affair, by Lauren Willig
The Hypnotist, by M.J. Rose
Other signed freebies I lugged back from BookExpo included an ARC of Tom Perrotta's forthcoming novel, The Leftovers and a hard cover edition of Jeffrey Lyons' memoir, Stories My Father Told Me. I saw comedian Jimmy Fallon from a distance; other authors I would have liked to have caught on Wednesday but didn't included Chevy Stevens, Susan Orlean, Francisco Goldman, Marissa de los Santos, James Patterson, Mary Jane Clark, Harlan Coben, Melissa Marr, Ridley Pearson, Erica Jon, and Chuck Palahniuk. The sheer size of the exhibit space and the length of the waiting time to see certain authors simply made it impossible to get to everyone I wanted to.
And this was only one day - some of the authors I missed by not attending the entire BookExpo include:Temple Grandin, Julianne Moore, Karin Slaughter, Joseph Finder, Heather Graham, Val McDermid, and Gena Showalter,
Okay, that's enough name dropping.
